


Sighting

by idiotbrothers



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, M/M, Other, Random Encounters, Unrelated Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, merman Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-05
Updated: 2014-05-05
Packaged: 2018-01-22 01:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1570886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idiotbrothers/pseuds/idiotbrothers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean fishes in the same exact spot every Sunday afternoon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sighting

Dean almost dropped his tackle box when he caught sight of the boy watching him from behind a craggy rock some small distance from the shore. The stranger was shirtless, brown curls plastered across his forehead in a messy tumble and skin tanned and gleaming in the sun. He didn’t look particularly endangered, out there on the rocks, but Dean figured shock would do that to a guy, so he opened his mouth to ask him if he needed help, when he suddenly clammed up. His eye had been drawn to something glittery in the water, where the boy’s waist disappeared into the murk. And then Dean stopped breathing for a second, because the kid pulled himself out of the water and further onto the rock’s sloped surface, and he had a  _tail_. 

The sunlight bounced blindingly off its scales, casting a patchwork of tiny rainbows onto the side of the nearest rock, and Dean realized that he was gaping like an idiot, having taken an unconscious step forward as his eyes strained for a closer look. The boy considered Dean from where he was perched on the rock, head angled towards him like he was listening for something. Several spellbound minutes ticked past, with both of them continuing to stare silently at each other as they waited for an interruption. Finally, the kid slid off the rock and splashed into the water, tail arcing through the air with a shower of droplets that rained unceremoniously onto the spot where he’d disappeared.

Dean swallowed, disappointment stabbing through him as he shuffled closer to the water and peered across the waves for a glimpse of silver and teal. He tripped backward with a start and fell on his ass when a brown-haired head burst out of the water not ten inches away from him. Dean clutched a hand to his racing heart and crawled forward a little, mouth tugging into a half-annoyed smirk. “Showy little bastard, aren’t you.”

The merman was stretched out on his stomach in the wet sand, waves lapping up to his waist from behind. His tail, partially visible, was even more fascinating up close, shimmering with endlessly varied shades of ultramarine when he moved. Dean sat forward properly, leaving so little space between them that he was looking straight into the guy’s kaleidoscope eyes. He shook his head of the fog that had seeped into it and became aware of the fact that the kid had yet to speak a single word to him. “Uh. What’s your name? I’m Dean Winchester. Gotta say, you’re the biggest fish I’ve ever seen around these parts.” 

"Hilarious," the merman said, rolling his eyes, "I always assumed you’d have a great sense of humor, you know, you look the type. But I guess I shouldn’t hold my breath for that, if  _that’s_  what you call an opener.” 

Dean bared his teeth at him in a mockery of a grin before asking, “Your name, hotshot? I wanna know what to call the guy who’s apparently been stalking me without my knowledge.” 

"It’s Sam," he said, blushing an alarming shade of red. "I don’t  _stalk_  you; it’s just, you always fish in the same spot. Every Sunday afternoon without fail. I couldn’t help but notice you eventually; I come up here all the time to look at the mainland.” 

"Really," Dean drawled, feeling a quiet little thrill shoot through him as Sam fidgeted and cast his gaze down, dark eyelashes fanning out against ruddy, moistened skin. He had an incomprehensible itch to taste the salt on Sam’s face, to suck on his pink bottom lip and trace every scale on his tail. "You’re cute," Dean added absently, exhaling softly when the statement only made Sam blush deeper.

"Can I…" He crept ever closer, hands scooping mini-tunnels in the sand as his knees landed in the water’s edge. "What?" Sam whispered, mere millimeters of space between their faces now.

"Can I kiss you? I really wanna kiss you." 

Sam frowned the tiniest bit, though his eyes had gone dark with unmistakeable interest beneath his lashes. “We just met. Why would you assume that I wanted…” Dean blinked sheepishly and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, which had grown hot and sweaty. 

"I’m sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have—but it’s just, there’s something about you. Like this isn’t our first meeting, or like…we have this…connection?" He laughed at himself after he’d said it, because  _he_  was the one blushing now. ”Sorry, that sounded really lame. We don’t have to—” Sam, propping himself up with one arm, placed a quieting finger to his mouth. When he drew his hand back, Dean automatically licked his lips. They tasted like the ocean. ”So, uh…”

 ”One second,” Sam assured him, turning to drag himself off the beach and completely into the sea, settling after a bit in a place that was shallow enough that only his tail was concealed, but deep enough that he could swim in place at an upright angle. ”Come on,” Sam called to him, holding a hand out encouragingly, “We can’t kiss if I’m horizontal.”

"Sure we can!" Dean said, putting one tentative foot in the water before remembering that he hadn’t removed his boots. He did so hesitantly, chucking them behind him with a flurry of sand. "This is preferable, believe me," Sam replied, looking impatient. Dean could relate. 

He’d never been big on swimming, but he tamped down his uneasiness and pulled his pants and shirt off, crumpling them into a ball and tossing them over his shoes before padding through the cold water. 

When he was in up to his knees, Sam took his hands and gently pulled him in the rest of the way, water sloshing around the waistband of his boxers and making him shiver. To his surprise, Dean realized that his feet still touched the bottom, that he didn’t have to tread water like Sam was doing. He also realized that out here, Sam was significantly taller than him. From this position, his shoulders looked so broad and his arms so defined, that Dean felt sort of self-conscious. He swallowed the feeling down when Sam sunk slightly further below the water so that their heights were more comparable.

“Well…?” Sam tilted his head in expectation, hands smoothing over Dean’s arms almost reverentially. “Yeah, okay,” Dean said, cupping Sam’s face and leaning in to meet his lips. They kissed for what felt like ages, slow and explorative and tasting sharply of salt. Dean felt tipsy with glee by the time Sam gasped his name and broke away to rest his head on Dean’s shoulder.

He could feel Sam’s breaths gusting out warm and rapid against his neck, and though he too was panting lightly, he curled his fingers in Sam’s long hair and eased his head up, moving in to kiss the hollow of his throat. Sam laughed breathlessly and snuck his fingers past the soaked waistband of Dean’s shorts, his soft touch making Dean go for his mouth again with new fervor, using his teeth and his tongue to unravel the last of Sam’s patience. 

”You have no idea…how long I’ve imagined this,” Sam murmured, breaking into a hushed groan when Dean sucked a mark onto his neck. ”Wish I’d noticed you sooner,” Dean confessed, voice coming out far too breathy for his liking. “You could’ve spoken up, y’know.”

Sam pulled out of Dean’s space at that, the absence of his careful hands and his perfect mouth an acute tingle on Dean’s skin.

"Hey, what—what’s wrong?"  

"I’m not supposed to be here," Sam said, alarm taking over his features. 

"I…I have to go." 

"Wait!" Dean grabbed his arm, and he froze, facing away from Dean and into the depths of the sea surrounding them. "You can’t just leave. I need to know that I’ll see you again." 

Sam shook his head as he turned back to him, strand of wet hair slipping over his nose. “Please. Please forget this ever happened. It didn’t mean anything, okay?” He looked pained as he said so, and Dean could’ve laughed at how transparent he was. “It meant something to me.”

Sam gave him a skeptical look, lips pursing as he pulled his arm free of Dean’s grasp. “Look, I’d prefer it if you didn’t just tell me what you know I wanna hear. Even if you don’t think so right now, the only thing you’re feeling for me is natural curiosity. I get it.” 

"And who are you to tell me what to feel?" Dean crossed his arms across his chest, partly from the cold and partly from some half-hearted attempt at looking intimidating. Considering his faded orange boxers and his present company’s imposing stature, he was probably failing miserably.

"Exactly," Sam said, frowning harder. "I’m nobody to you. You’d never seen me before until today, and we haven’t had a single real conversation. So I’m begging you, for both our sakes—forget about me." 

With that, he swiveled and dove beneath the surface, the fin of his huge tail almost slapping Dean in the face as he retreated. Within seconds, Sam had made it into much deeper waters, too fast for Dean to even think about catching up to him.

"Could you have sounded less melodramatic, at least?" Dean called out, but Sam was long gone, and the only thing indicating he’d been there at all was a quiet, unfamiliar ache in Dean’s chest and a pattern of receding ripples. 


End file.
